


A Truth Universally Acknowledged

by Little_Miss_Dracula



Category: Doctor Who, Pride and Prejudice & Related Fandoms, Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Genre: Complete, Crossover, F/M, Fluff, Kitsune, Romance, kind of crossover, soft romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:20:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 8,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23544544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Little_Miss_Dracula/pseuds/Little_Miss_Dracula
Summary: An old, fluffy, little fic that I thought I'd upload whilst I get myself back into writing. It's been too long.A kind of Pride & Prejudice/Doctor Who combination - enjoy!It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a madman in possession of a blue box, must be in want of a companion.
Relationships: Eleventh Doctor/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 10





	1. Chapter 1

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

Elizabeth Dashwood sighed as she looked up from the book absent-mindedly. Her eyes drifted around her flat, which looked conspicuously empty.

It had been a week since her boyfriend of over five years had left, taking most of their joint possessions with him. Since then, numbness had set in and life had continued as normal. Until today. With the prospect of an entire day off work, Elizabeth found she suddenly had nothing to do without him.

And so she had turned to Austen. With her favourite book in hand, and a cup of steaming hot tea in front of her, Elizabeth found herself enjoying the prospect of being alone. Curling her feet up underneath her, she reopened Pride and Prejudice and lost herself in the world of 1813.

Five billion and a half light years away, the Doctor whooped as the TARDIS made a quick, if somewhat erratic, flight away from a slightly perilous situation involving some Daleks, a rogue Cyberman, a Hath, and a surprising amount of peanut butter.

He span around, ready to laugh with Clara about the absurdity of the situation, and was greeted, yet again, with the emptiness of the TARDIS.  
It had been a week since she had left, he guessed, but he still wasn't used to life without her there. The Doctor's mood dampened slightly, and he turned back to the console with a sigh. The TARDIS hummed in companionship, although the Doctor suspected she was secretly glad of the absence of his Impossible Girl.

He set some coordinates and the TARDIS wheezed into life. He'd go to Cardiff, fill up the TARDIS on the rift, maybe even visit Jack. What was it they called it on Earth? A vacation. He'd take a vacation.

The TARDIS landed, more gently than usual. She must be picking up on his moroseness, the Doctor reasoned. He sighed once more to the empty room, and swung out of the door.  
Jack came running up to him almost the moment the Doctor opened the TARDIS door.

"The amount of noise this old girl makes, of course I was going to come running!" he'd laughed. "I could hardly miss it, could I? Nice bowtie, by the way. What brings you to Cardiff?" He winked.

"Nothing. Really. Just, you know, a vacation."

It was then that Jack noticed the absence of anyone else outside the TARDIS, and the sadness that the Doctor could never quite hide.

"Come on," he said, with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. "You need coffee. Good, strong coffee."

"I think I'd rather have tea…" the Doctor protested weakly as Jack clapped an arm around him, and dragged him away.


	2. Chapter Two

As Jack and the Doctor reached the front of the queue, a figure darted by them, red hair being pulled up hastily into a ponytail.

"Sorry! I got here as quickly as I could!" squeaked out of the young girl as she took the place of the older man behind the counter.

"No problem, Lizzie, thanks for coming in last minute. I know you were looking forward to your day off."

"It's okay, it's better to be busy" The red-haired girl flashed a smile at Jack. "And just in time to serve my regular. The usual, Jack?"

"Please, darling. And a strong coffee for this young man." He slapped the Doctor's back in what the Doctor assumed was camaraderie.

"Actually, I'll have tea. Please."

The girl nodded and turned back to Jack.

"Want me to bring it over?"

"Thanks, gorgeous."

Jack led the Doctor over to a table. "Pretty little thing isn't she? Been trying to work my magic on that one for months."

"Really?" the Doctor asked, as awkward as he ever was. He leaned back on the admittedly comfortable sofa, slightly happier than earlier. It was good to see Jack, and good to know at least some things don't change.

Jack was still nattering away when the young girl brought over a coffee and a pot of tea. Her eyes met the Doctor when she placed the cup in front of him and the Doctor felt a jolt somewhere in his stomach.

Her eyes were so young. He didn't know if he believed in what these humans called a soul, but if there was one, hers was new.

Her thoughts were less philosophical. A good looking man, she thought on her way back to the counter. Dark, and something brooding about his eyes. Jack was her Wickham, she thought. But this friend of his, he was more like the Darcy of her imagination. She allowed herself a small chuckle, and then swiftly got back to work. It was a distraction, that was all.

The Doctor and Jack spent many hours in the coffee shop, only leaving when the girl ushered them out as she locked the door.

"So when are you going to meet me for a drink, my darling Elizabeth?" Jack joked cheekily.

"Maybe next time, Jack." She laughed as she walked away, swinging her bag over her shoulder.

Jack and the Doctor returned to the TARDIS, Elizabeth to her empty flat. The Doctor could not escape the strange feeling that had begun when he'd met the eyes of the red-haired girl. It was a feeling strangely like dread.

Jack had dismissed it as lust, but the Doctor pushed his hair out of his eyes and did a scan for alien tech using the TARDIS. Nothing registered. Concerned, he furrowed his brow and straightened his bow-tie. It most certainly could not be lust, he told himself. He was past all that…funny business… now. And he'd felt lust before, he allowed himself to remember, in his old self. This was something else.

As Elizabeth made a cup of tea, forcing herself not to make two out of habit, the strange young man with the red bow-tie lingered in her mind a moment, before he was pushed out by the world of Elizabeth Bennet.

Outside, a bin fell. Foxes, Elizabeth guessed. They had become more common of late, often snuffling around bins in residential areas, and even being spotted in the centre of the city, seemingly oblivious to the humans around them. She padded downstairs in her slippers, intending to scare off the fox, but as she opened the door it stood directly in front of her, staring at her, she was sure. Its three tails stood up proudly, a fact Elizabeth didn't register until much later that night. Go on, it's eyes challenged her, pet me, touch me, I'm tame. Drawn irresistibly towards it, Elizabeth stretched out her hand. As her hand reached within an inch of the fox, a clamour came from an alleyway nearby, and Jack Harkness jumped over a rolling rubbish bin.

"Do not touch that fox!"


	3. Chapter Three

Earlier...

A companionable silence had fallen some five minutes ago. The Doctor was tinkering in the depths of the TARDIS console, whilst Jack messaged one of his latest Earth conquests.

"Jack, are you snuffling?" the Doctor asked, popping his head up from underneath the console.

"I thought that was you." Jack replied, frowning. "I didn't like to ask…"

The two exchanged a glance. Trouble.

Silently, they made their way to the TARDIS doors. As they positioned themselves on either side, the Doctor shook his head at Jack, who had pulled out a sonic gun. The Doctor removed his sonic screwdriver from his pocket. On a silent count of three, they pushed open the double doors, Jack doing a highly stylised jump, shouting all the while.

At a fox.

The Doctor began to chuckle slightly, shaking his head at the captain. Jack, however, did not put his gun down.

"Erm, Doctor, hate to ruin your moment, I really do, but are you sure that's just a fox?"

The Doctor pushed his hair back. "Of course it's just a fox, standard Earth fox. Reddish coloured fur, three tails…" He paused. "Hang on, this fox has three tails…" He pulled his sonic screwdriver back out of his pocket. Advancing slowly towards the animal, he scanned it carefully. "Strange, no readings at all. It's like it's not even there…"

Jack lowered his gun slightly.

"But how is that even possible?"

"It's not…"

"Is that… is that what I think it is, Doctor?"

The Doctor met Jack's eyes and confirmed his suspicions.

"Kitsune."

As though charmed, on being named the creature trotted off down the road, seemingly quite merrily. After a hundred yards or so, it turned to look straight at Jack and the Doctor, before continuing on its way.

"We shouldn't follow it, should we, Doctor?" Jack asked, already half-laughing. The Timelord joined in, and they ran off down the road.

The clatter of bins and subsequent movie-star leap, Jack will tell you, was entirely planned.

Both Elizabeth Dashwood and the Doctor doubt this version of events entirely.

What is certain, that upon noticing Elizabeth Dashwood standing in front of the Kitsune, her arm outstretched, Jack lowered his gun immediately. The Doctor was following close behind, but kept his sonic screwdriver outstretched.

Elizabeth snapped out of the trance she seemed to have been in, and looked from Jack to the Doctor, noticing immediately the chill of the evening.

"Jack?" she asked in a small voice.

"Just, don't touch it, okay, Lizzie?"

Elizabeth turned back to the fox. It looked imploringly at her, its begging eyes glinting green and gold in the moonlight. It took a lot of willpower to wrench her eyes away again, taking in the young man with the bow-tie and floppy hair, before returning to her handsome admirer.

The only thing she could think of to say was to invite Jack and his friend in for a coffee. Jack accepted immediately, as was his wont when anything attractive mentioned the word "coffee", and the Doctor followed in a slightly bemused fashion, fiddling with his sonic screwdriver as he went.


	4. Chapter Four

As the somewhat unlikely looking trio settled in Elizabeth's empty living room, with a sneaky glance outside from Elizabeth to assure herself that the fox had not followed her into her house (it hadn't, and it remained on the front porch, staring up at her), the Doctor looked at her quizzically.

"Why you?" he asked, scanning her with his sonic, looking as though he expected her to know what he was talking about? "Have you ever travelled in time?"

She looked at him, slightly gone out. Her gaze drifted to Jack, her eyes widening in alarm as he didn't immediately drag his friend away to Bedlam.

"Well…" she began, "no, because it's not physically possible…"

"Of course it is!" the Doctor flailed his arms in the air, kicking himself back into his chair, before launching into a very complicated and verbose explanation of the laws of time and space.

During this ramble, which lasted above twenty minutes, Elizabeth Dashwood stared at Jack, at the man who came into the tea shop every day and ordered a cappuccino, sometimes with a slice of homemade raspberry cake, and sat on the same sofa near the window. The man who called her Lizzie and winked at her and always, always asked if he could take her for a drink. Who'd smiled and made her day when it was raining. And now she saw him, as though they communicated the whole thing telepathically. That he wasn't the man who came into her coffee shop, but a stranger, a handsome stranger, who knew all about foxes with three tails, and precisely why she shouldn't touch it, and time travel, and who had possibly time travelled (although the idea was still somewhat alien to her), and… oh god what if he's an alien... The room span a little and Elizabeth clutched her mug of tea closer.

"So that's just the general idea anyway," the Doctor finished his spiel.

"Well, no, I've never… time travelled." Elizabeth wrenched herself into reality to reply to her unexpected guest.

"Strange, you've got traces…"

"There is the rift, Doctor… Could that have anything to do with it?" Jack turned to the Doctor, sending Elizabeth into further spinning worlds of confusion.

"Can someone please just tell me what's happening?" her small voice broke through the quiet conversation between the Doctor and Jack. Both men looked at her, sat in her own living room, contemplating how weird it was that everything about her reality, from the apparent love of her life to the very laws of science she had always uncomprehendingly believed in, had come falling down around her ears within a few short days. Jack's arm was immediately around her shoulders, his comforting voice assuring her that everything was fine. The Doctor's face creased in concern. The air in the room was thick with human fear. He glanced around, noting the creased and well-thumbed copy of Pride and Prejudice on the coffee table.

"1813." He stated bluntly, and although to him it was a perfectly logical statement to make based on his current thought process, both Jack and Elizabeth paused to look at him inquiringly. He pointed to the book on the table. "1813. When Pride and Prejudice was published. You should go there."

"What, in my time machine?" Elizabeth snapped sarcastically, the events of the evening having taken their toll.

"No, in my TARDIS. That's Time And Relative Dimension In Space." He grinned proudly. Elizabeth continued to glare. "Look, the Kitsune, this fox that's following you, for some reason it thinks you're special in some way," Elizabeth's glare deepened to a look Jack would later describe as more terrifying than hearing twenty Daleks, forty Cybermen and some Slitheen creep out from your wardrobe at four in the morning. "You should take a trip with me. To make them lose track of you. The Kitsune, they're determined, but not particularly adept at travelling in time, so a quick trip would probably be enough to deter them from trying to possess you."

"From trying to do what?"

"Possess you. In order to continue to wreak minor havoc and chaos on… Cardiff…"

"So, let me just clear up a few things… There is a fox, outside my flat, which wants to possess me in order to bring chaos to the world and in order to make the fox not want to possess me anymore, I should go to a few balls in 1813 in your, whatever you called it, and then… problem solved!"

"Well, it's not technically a fox, it's a mischievous spirit called a Kitsune… but yep, that just about covers it!" The Doctor smiled brightly.

"Oh, of course, sorry…" Elizabeth's head swam some more, the room went fuzzy, then dark, and our heroine, much to her later embarrassment, fainted.


	5. Chapter Five

When Elizabeth slowly woke up, she was relieved to find herself still on her own sofa. She stretched slightly, knowing she'd only been out a few minutes from the lack of ache in her limbs. Jack sat on the floor next to her, the Doctor stood in front of him. They were deep in conversation, so much so they didn't notice the waking Elizabeth.

"What makes you so sure it'll stop following her?"

"I'm not. But we can't have a possessed Kitsune wandering around Cardiff, it'll cause hell for your lot at Torchwood. And it'll draw interest… interest you don't necessarily want. Kitsune are hard to find… a fully matured Kitsune could be a very valuable commodity to some species…"

Elizabeth made a slight noise of protest before she could stop herself. Jack whipped his head around and asked how she was doing. Elizabeth, for once, ignored him, instead staring straight at the Doctor.

"Why do they want me?"

"I don't know. You're young, which makes it easier for them to take control of you…"

"I'm twenty-five!" she interrupted in protest. The Doctor smiled slightly.

"And they generally like… um… attractive… people…"

Elizabeth had the grace to blush, whilst Jack winked at her.

"So… time travelling… that'll help… right?"

"Well, yes theoretically it ought to help…"

"Then let's do it." There was a steely determination in her face that Jack couldn't argue with if he'd tried.

The boys led Elizabeth to the TARDIS, Jack kindly explaining the concept of the 'bigger on the inside' technology to her on the way, mostly in the hope that she wouldn't faint again. She still had to hold in a slightly incredulous laugh when they stopped outside of a 1960s blue Police box and contented herself with an amused raised eyebrow, which didn't escape the attention of the Doctor. He was actually rather hurt.

He led the way into his treasured TARDIS, trailing a hand along the console to make up for Elizabeth's mocking look. Elizabeth followed, with Jack close behind. As she saw the inside of the TARDIS for the first time, determined not to swoon like a Bennet sister, Elizabeth gripped the handrails tightly, swallowed her fear, and strode into the machine as though time travel was a perfectly everyday occurrence, thank you very much.

As the Doctor set the coordinates, Jack led Elizabeth to the wardrobe of the TARDIS (in not a completely subtle effort to at least peak underneath the jeans and jumpers she usually wore, and also to answer the barrage of questions he knew she would have). After a brief moment of appreciation for the beauty of the array of costumes in front of her, Elizabeth indeed turned to Jack, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Well?" she demanded. Jack sank into a handily placed seat and smiled sheepishly.

"It's kind of a long story."

"Then be concise." She raised an eyebrow and Jack sighed.

"Fine. The quick version is this: I'm an alien, he's an alien. I'm from a planet in the Boeshane Peninsula in the 51st century , he's the last of a race called the Time Lords. I'm immortal, after a very complicated accident involving an old…companion… of his, who revived me after I was killed fighting the Daleks…"

"Stop." Elizabeth sighed slightly. "This is all a bit too complicated for me. And now I have to pick out an outfit suitable for the early 1800s. I work in a teashop for Christ's sake. Why is this happening to me?"

"Trust me, once you've travelled in the TARDIS, you'll never want to stop."

When Elizabeth walked back into the console room on the arm of a very dapper looking Jack Harkness, in a pale blue ball gown and with her hair up in an elegant twist that the Doctor suspected, correctly, Jack had helped her with, the Doctor went to say something, and couldn't. Only Jack understood precisely why. Elizabeth was too busy being incredibly nervous.  
"After you, my darling Miss Dashwood." Jack gestured to the doors. With a slightly incredulous look on her face, Elizabeth pushed open the door, so gently it seemed she wasn't sure it would really open at all.


	6. Chapter Six

As she stepped out of the TARDIS, Elizabeth felt so lightheaded she thought she would faint again. Despite the somewhat confusing events that had taken place in the last few hours, she still hadn't quite believed that the world of 1813, the world of her favourite author, would be outside the doors of the strange machine. Most of her had been convinced she would step out into the centre of Cardiff, a TV crew waiting to film her for some prank TV show. This couldn't be real. Yet there they were, in front of a pair of very real looking doors, which, when she tried them, opened out onto a long, wide ballroom. There were people dancing who didn't look like actors, each and every one of them decked out in their best early 19th century clothes. A well-dressed young woman swept past on the arm of a man in the red jacket of the militia, giggling and blushing. Elizabeth broke into a smile.  
She felt Jack's hand on her arm a second before she heard him.

"May I have the next dance, Miss Dashwood?"

Elizabeth spun around suddenly. "I don't know how to dance!"

"Trust me, I do. Just follow my lead." Jack smiled in return.

They danced twice consecutively, allowing Elizabeth plenty of time to ask the many questions that flooded her inquisitive mind. Jack explained why no one appeared to question the appearance of three strangers at the ball (psychic paper), and the fact no one had screamed that a police call box from the future had appeared in a small antechamber (people, put bluntly, ignore what seems impossible).

Jack left Elizabeth by a group of talkative elderly men as he went to fetch them both a glass of something fizzy. Smiling, Elizabeth took in the general splendour of the room, not even noticing the absence of the eccentric alien in the bow tie and tweed jacket. Suddenly a dark haired man was in front of her, bowing. She curtsied quickly, and somewhat clumsily, suddenly chokingly aware of her modernity.

"Unless your husband will object, may I partner you for the next dance?"

"Husband?" Elizabeth asked, confused. The man waited. "Oh! You must mean Jack… He's not my husband, he's my… my… chaperone. A cousin."

"A cousin?"

"Second cousin. On my father's side." She added, painfully aware of the lack of familial resemblance. The man, however, seemed to accept her explanation and took her hand to lead her to the dancefloor.

"May I enquire as to the name of my fair partner?"

"Oh! Elizabeth Dashwood, Mr…?"

"Darcy. Fitzwilliam Darcy, of Derbyshire."

"You're actually joking?" Elizabeth stopped short.

"Are you suggesting I am impersonating someone?"

"No! No! Of course not! I… I merely am loosely connected with Derbyshire myself and… um… had heard of you by reputation. I did not expect to find someone from your family at a public ball."

By the slight incline of his head, Elizabeth guessed Darcy had, once again, accepted her hastily made up story. Elizabeth internally breathed a sigh of relief, and then once again the surreal nature of the conversation hit her and she almost giggled. So there really was a Mr Darcy of Derbyshire. She again wondered if these people were actors, but as she and her partner took their places in the line, she realised it seemed far too surreal to be anything but reality.

The music struck up, and they began to dance.


	7. Chapter 7

Less than a minute into the dance, a commotion at the other end of the hall forced Elizabeth and her fantasy partner to stop, hand in gloved hand. They turned towards the hubbub, and Elizabeth reddened as the Doctor, albeit one decked out in a rather smart evening suit, was revealed to be the cause. He was doing something that she presumed constituted as dancing on whatever planet he came from; on Earth it appeared as a lot of arm flailing and limbs that looked just a little bit too long for his body.

"What an imbecile." The man at her side was looking scornfully at the Doctor, and Elizabeth couldn't help but join him. For all he was apparently an alien with a so-called impressive spaceship, he looked rather ridiculous with his long hair flopping over his forehead, especially in comparison to her imposing dance partner. Besides he was an… alien… and no matter how much he looked like a human, she was sure she could never trust him. Didn't aliens take people to experiment on, or something like that? And Jack, her sweet, darling Jack, even now effortlessly flirting with half of the room, his Hollywood smile flashing… he wasn't the same guy she knew.

Logically she knew she was being ridiculous. Jack had never specified that he was human… but then who needed to do that? Maybe she was at fault for not thinking more open-mindedly… but then if she assumed every other person on the street was from space, she might go mad.

Had she gone mad? She was, after all, standing very close to Mr Darcy of Derbyshire, who was telling her about trout fishing in a rather enthusiastic manner. Hm… she thought, Jane Austen never mentioned that… But he was still the man of her dreams; tall, dark, handsome and so beautifully aloof that it took her breath away and made her simper and flirt more than Lydia Wickham. What girl doesn't want her very own Mr Darcy… right?

Suddenly Jack, her 'cousin' and chaperone, was at her elbow.

"My darling," he exclaimed loudly enough to get her attention, and the attention of the enthusiastic Darcy. "I simply must return with you to our… carriage… the Doctor is most anxious that he sees you… at once" he added, to impress on her the urgency.

"The doctor?" Darcy asked, sounding charmingly worried.

"A slight complaint… headaches, you understand." She lied fluently once more, somewhat worried what this new found talent meant about her as a person. Elizabeth allowed herself to be pulled away from the handsome Darcy, with more than a slight twinge of annoyance.

"Now what does he want?!" she asked, rather too angrily, judging from the strange look Jack gave her, before he replied in a low voice

"There's been some complications, with the Kitsune… You need to get back to the TARDIS."

"Did this complication arrive before or after his ridiculous dancing?"

Jack didn't answer. Somehow that was worse. Elizabeth felt the full weight of her words, shocked at her own meanness. "I didn't mean that."

Jack stopped them just outside the TARDIS.

"Look, I know this is all completely crazy. We've just dragged you out of your own world and forced you into ours. But our world… it's pretty beautiful, if you let yourself see it."  
Elizabeth smiled.

"I know. I just danced with Mr Darcy! It doesn't get much better than that."

A strange look passed over Jack's face.

"Just… don't dismiss the Doctor, just because he's a little, well, odd. Just remember, he's a good man. And he's trying his best to save you right now."


	8. Chapter 8

Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor was uncharacteristically quiet. He turned to face Jack and Elizabeth as they walked in. Sensing the unease, Jack excused himself, joking about a young lady and a badly thought out proposal he needed to rectify. The Doctor only smiled weakly. Elizabeth began to worry as the silence filled the strange and yet now oddly familiar machine.

"What is it?" she finally asked.

The Doctor simply sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. The silence stretched.

"Doctor…?" Elizabeth's voice was small. The realisation had suddenly hit her that she was alone in this world. Then again, she thought, I was alone before. At least now, she reasoned, she had this man. This strange man with his strange box and his all too complicated world… "Help me. Please, Doctor. Help me."

He finally looked up at her, and their eyes met. The jolt in Elizabeth's stomach could wait, the more important thing in her mind was the sadness, the pain, in his eyes.

"What is it?" she asked.

He turned away from her, fiddling with the controls on the TARDIS console absentmindedly. "It's the Kitsune." He said, after a considerable pause. "It's… they've… followed us. They're here."

"They?"

"I… miscalculated… that is, they didn't show up on the TARDIS systems. I don't know why. I'm sorry."

And suddenly Elizabeth was washed with a sense of shame.

"This isn't your fault, Doctor. You're a good man… a little strange," she laughed, "but I know you were, are, trying to help me." She thought of the scorn with which her and Darcy had watched him dancing and thought something that she never believed she could: Elizabeth Bennett, you're welcome to him.

The Doctor grinned in his hopelessly ridiculous way.

"So?" Elizabeth continued. "What do we do?"

Jack's voice appeared from behind her. "That, darling, is where I come in."

Elizabeth couldn't help but smile. "Why, what are you going to do, charm them to death?" she laughed, beside herself at the absurd reality of it all.

Jack smirked back. "That, my dear Miss Dashwood, is precisely what I'm going to do."

Ten minutes later and the trio were crouched in an inconveniently cramped ante-chamber, which Jack seemed to be enjoying far too much to concentrate on his end of the discussion. The discussion was on how best to go about actually capturing the leading Kitsune, once Jack had charmed his way into making it go after him, not Lizzie. Clearly, Elizabeth thought, not unkindly, planning is not something they do very often.

"So, what makes you think that the Kitsune will go for Jack instead of me?" she asked the Doctor. Since they were so closely confined, conversation seemed like the only polite way to relieve the awkwardness, and she was after all, British.

"Not entirely sure… To be honest, I'm not sure this is going to work."

"Reassuring, Doctor. Really reassuring."


	9. Chapter 9

Jack flashed a charming grin. "Darling, I've been around for a long time. There's very little that can withstand my charms." He winked at Elizabeth, nodded at the Doctor, muttered "Here goes," pushed open the door, and strode out into the ballroom.

"Well he's confident, I'll give him that one," Elizabeth smiled, stretching her limbs in the now slightly roomier antechamber. Cupboard she thought, I'm pretty sure this is actually a cupboard. 

From their position, with the door positioned so as to give a slither of light, they watched Jack flirt his way to the other end of the ballroom, pausing occasionally to tuck a strand of hair behind a lady's ear, or to brush the dust off a gentleman's jacket.

Crouched in a somewhat unnatural position for gangly man such as himself, next to a girl who he barely knew and who for some reason had been acting more distressed than excited about the fact they were currently in what was her past, the Doctor once again the same apprehensiveness that he had felt in the TARDIS; unease, vague dread, the kind of dread where you're not actually sure what you're afraid of, which is categorically the worst kind. Jack had earlier dismissed it as lust, given its immediate connection with the redhead next to him, and no doubt would again, probably with a sly insinuation about the fact they were alone together in a cupboard. The Doctor once again dismissed it as ludicrous. Yet, the feeling was connected with the girl, in a way he couldn't quite dismiss with the explanation that she was being stalked by a Kitsune. He frowned, shook his hair from his face, and turned his attention back to Jack.

Jack had nearly completed a circuit of the room and was heading back towards their cupboard. Elizabeth shifted to make room for him to crouch down with them, steadying herself on the Doctor's shoulder. Finally, Jack joined them, positioning himself on the other side of Elizabeth.

"Well, guys, the good news is that there isn't a fully-fledged Kitsune out there, not one of those guys is possessed. The bad news is there's a hell of a lot of foxes outside on the lawn…"

The Doctor didn't reply, only gave Jack a loaded look, which Jack seemed to return. Confused, Elizabeth looked over at Jack, noticing, not for the first time, how incredibly handsome she found him. He had an eyelash on his cheek, just below his eye, and she had an indescribable urge to brush it away. She had reached out her had to do so when the Doctor jumped up; considering the small amount of space they had to begin with, this caused some considerable disruption.

"I have a plan!" His flailing limbs knocked what appeared to be a bucket off a shelf, which narrowly missed Elizabeth's head. Broken from the trance induced by Jack's eyelash, she looked up at the Doctor in surprise.

"You have a plan?"

"Well… not strictly a plan… an idea!" When she continued to look sceptical, he elaborated. "Well, a thought. More of an inkling. But that's beside the point!"

Both Elizabeth and Jack smiled.

"We need to be more direct!" the Doctor continued, his elbows narrowly avoiding bringing down several more items onto his companions. "Come on, we're going outside."  
They edged their way along the outskirts of the ballroom, the Doctor insistent that they didn't draw any attention to Elizabeth. The two men stood like guards on either side of her, blocking her from view as much as possible.

Once they reached the open French doors, the trio continued outside. Scattered around the visible are of what were clearly some immense grounds, some thirty or forty foxes, all with at least two tails (one or two, Elizabeth noted, had four). Once more feeling that same, sleepy, trance-like state which had overcome her outside her house, Elizabeth continued on even after the Doctor and Jack had stopped just after the patio. In the midst of the Kitsune, underneath the fullest moon the Doctor had seen on Earth, Elizabeth's pale skin took on an unearthly glow.

The Doctor glanced at Jack, and was alarmed to see that he seemed entranced by Elizabeth, the hand that had been permanently and carefully on top of his gun, ready to draw, steadily moving back to his side.

"Elizabeth?" The Doctor called out. "Elizabeth?"

There was no response. She didn't even turn around.

"Lizzie?" He tried again. "Elizabeth Dashwood?"

Still nothing.

He took out his sonic screwdriver, and scanned.

This time, the readings were off the scale.


	10. Chapter 10

The Doctor sidestepped slowly to Jack, carefully not drawing attention to himself.

"Jack!" he half-whispered. There was a flicker of recognition across Jack's face, but he did not turn to face the Doctor. The Doctor had raised his sonic screwdriver, and was about to do something rather dangerous and potentially life-threatening, when a cough from behind him shocked him out of it.

"Miss Dashwood?" spoke the cougher. "May I have the honour of the next dance?"

The Doctor turned to see, silhouetted in the doorway, none other than Elizabeth's own Mr Darcy. When Elizabeth did not speak or turn around, Darcy turned to the Doctor, and in a surprised glance took in the strange man who had caused the ruckus with his outlandish dancing, and who appeared to be holding a metal object which was glowing a rather effulgent green at one end.

"What on earth is going on?" He demanded, more than used to people bowing and scraping before him, none of which this odd man was doing. "Who are you? And what, precisely, is wrong with Miss Dashwood?"

"Very long story," the Doctor said, turning back to Elizabeth and his sonic screwdriver, attempting to puzzle out the readings he had received. "You'd probably be better going back inside and dancing, or whatever it is you do."

"Sir, I may not have the pleasure of your acquaintance, but as of this evening I have made the acquaintance of the young lady in front of you, and I would very much like to have her hand for the next set."

"I happen to think that's not a very good idea, and since I am very, very clever, I really think you ought to leave."

Incensed, Mr. Darcy pushed his way past the Doctor and, pausing just behind her, tapped Elizabeth on the shoulder. She turned around. And she looked precisely the same as she had before the Doctor had scanned her. Confused, he frowned. This wasn't exactly how it usually worked. He was always right. That was what he did. He snuck a glance at Jack, who was still staring, entranced, at the silk clad figure in front of them, a small smile on his face. The Doctor shook his head, beginning to feel the effects of whatever was clearly ensnaring the Captain at his side.

Mr Darcy had made a small bow in front of Elizabeth, asking her again for honour of her company in the next dance. Which is when the Doctor began to congratulating himself once again on how clever he was.

Elizabeth, or what was Elizabeth, cocked her head to one side, a smile beginning to form. But it wasn't quite right; something was there that wasn't before, or something was missing, the Doctor wasn't sure which. Her smile went no further than her lips, and her skin was still that deathly pale white , almost the colour of ice. Her hand slowly raised, she was offering it for Mr. Darcy to kiss.

The Doctor ran and skidded to a halt in front of Elizabeth.

"Oooh no you don't…" he muttered. Unfortunately, Darcy had already sunk into a low bow to kiss the proffered hand, and ended up in a compromising position in front of the Doctor. This left him even more flustered than being interrupted with a young woman such as the one in front of him and was about to explode into a diatribe on the various faults he could see in the young man in front of him with the frankly ridiculous haircut, when the Doctor stopped him with a glance.

"Look at her." He warned. Darcy did as he was told, for some reason, and proceeded to do what, in other circumstances, would have been a rather comic double take.  
Because, the Doctor reasoned, he really was very clever. And something was wrong with Elizabeth, and he was almost 100% sure he knew what. Satisfied that Darcy was going to be no more trouble, he turned around and addressed 'Elizabeth.'

"Am I addressing the Kitsunetsuki?"

Elizabeth did not answer, but her nose twitched just slightly, which the Doctor took for an affirmative answer.

"What have you done to Jack?" he continued.

The answer came to him, although Elizabeth did not speak.

\--Nothing. He is entranced by our beauty. We cannot help that.--

The Doctor staggered back somewhat. Nothing should enter his mind. A laughing filled his head as soon as he thought it. 

\--We are strong. You are alone. You are weak.--

"What is this witchcraft?" Darcy asked from behind the Doctor. He whirled around and looked at Darcy.

"What did you say?"

"I asked what kind of trickery you and your friend here are practicing…"

"You heard it?"

"Of course I do not believe in such nonsense, and I insist, sir, that you desist from this at once."

The Doctor grasped Darcy by the shoulders.

"But you heard that, that voice, that came into your head, didn't it?"

"Yes."

"Then why is it working on Jack… and not you?"

"Then why is what… Man, you are talking like a madman!"

"Why is it not working on us?" The Doctor addressed the Kitsunetsuki again. "Why Jack, what have you done to him?"

The Kitsunetsuki smiled, and turned slowly to the side to face Jack.


	11. Chapter 11

The Doctor paused. "Right…" he said slowly, reaching a hand back to slowly tell Darcy to move. For once, Darcy did as he was told (although he wasn't particularly happy about it). The Doctor looked at Jack, whose handsome face was serenely calm. Elizabeth hadn't moved.

"Right, okay then… this could be a bit of a problem…" the Doctor said, mostly to himself.

"What on earth is happening, man?" asked Darcy.

"She's been possessed, and now she's trying to possess Jack, that is my friend there." The Doctor summarized quickly. "He's in a bit of a trance, it seems, he won't respond to anything except her. But it's not working on you… and it's not working on me." He shook his head again. "Well, not much."

"Should we all be acting like him?"

"Yes. Well, you should. You're human. I should be feeling it far less than I am. I'm far too old for all that sort of business to affect me… But my head's clouding up. Which is not good. So we need to figure out a way to stop whatever has her. And quickly."

"How?"

"I don't know!" the Doctor nearly shouted. "I need to think. Give me a minute. And make sure she doesn't touch Jack!"

After Darcy nodded, the Doctor began to pace up and down, his mind racing in an attempt to remember everything he had ever heard about the Kitsune. After a minute or so, he was stopped in his tracks by Darcy. About to ask precisely why he was interrupting a man who was on a perfectly logical train of thought, the Doctor was distracted by movement to one side.

"He's about to touch her!" Darcy said, apparently vaguely aware what the Doctor had meant when he'd given him the warning. "I think he, too, may become possessed."

The Doctor, with little or no thought whatsoever, jumped between Jack and Elizabeth, knocking Elizabeth's arm as he did so.

The cloud of fog that had previously seeped at the edges of his mind filled him with a terrifying intensity. His eyes clouded over, and sinking to the ground suddenly seemed like the only viable option. Having done so, he forced his eye to focus on Elizabeth, stood above him with that same small smile on her face. The pain in his head increasing, he looked down.

And then, the Doctor reasoned later, he did something really very clever indeed.

Looking down, and slightly to his right, he noticed a pearl laying on the grass. He wildly tried to think if it was one from the string around Elizabeth's neck, but in his slightly delirious state, couldn't quite remember. Wherever it had come from, he reached out, slowly, hearing the placating words of Darcy to what he thought was Elizabeth in the background, and grabbed it.

Almost immediately, the fog within his head was replaced by a cacophony of voices. It took him some moments to realise what they were, but as soon as he did, he jumped up, holding the pearl at arms length.

The Kitsunetsuki turned away from Jack, to face the Doctor, fear beginning to dawn on it's host's features.

The Doctor was about to crow in triumph and burst into a slightly verbose speech, when one word entered his mind from that of the Kitsunetsuki. Just one word.

\--Please.--


	12. Chapter 12

He stopped, open mouthed. To one side of him, Jack was visibly back to his old self, his hand once again hovering over the gun at his side. To the other, Darcy was staring, with an expression on his face the Doctor couldn't help thinking mirrored his own.

Elizabeth, or the Kitsunetsuki, spoke aloud.

"Please, Doctor. Release it."

"It's a hoshi no tama, isn't it?"

"A hoshi no what?" Jack asked, still looking vaguely dazed.

"A hoshi no tama. This is the Kitsunetsuki's power."

"Doctor…" Darcy began.

"This is no longer Elizabeth, it's not been truly Elizabeth for a while. The Kitsune, that's these foxes, well, spirits that look like foxes, they've possessed her."

"So you said earlier… But possessed? She doesn't look mad."

"She's not. It's not angry, it's lost. These things, they're from another world, one far from here…"

"Like you, Doctor, and your charming companion, Miss Dashwood."

"Yes. Well, not Lizzie, she's from here, just from your future."

Darcy's jaw twitched, but he nodded.

"They possessed her a long time ago, I think."

"Outside her flat!" Jack interjected.

"Yes, that's what I think, and I'm usually right so it's probably true. It seems that they're more powerful than I'd anticipated. The Kitsunetsuki doesn't even need a touch, just to be that close to touching. But this..." the Doctor indicated the hoshi no tama clenched in his fist, "contains a part of the Kitsune, a part of the spirit outside Elizabeth. It's almost a power source for them."

"Give it back to us. Please. It is useless to you, but to us it is everything." The Kitsunesuki looked so innocent, the Doctor was close to forgiving it.

"Not until you release her. Give us Lizzie, and the Doctor will give you back your… ball…" Jack insisted.

"Give that back, and you can have anything."

"Elizabeth first." This time Darcy spoke. The Doctor and Jack looked at him in surprise. "How are we to know that they'll do as they say. Once they have back that… thing… they'd have back the power to continue possessing her. Am I correct, Doctor?"

The Doctor pushed the hair out of his eyes and nodded. "Yes."

"Give back the ball, take the girl, and I will be your guide, always…" the Kitsunetsuki pleaded.

"I will take you to a planet, I can take you anywhere, all of your race. So you can start again."

"On a count of three?" Jack suggested.

The Doctor and the Kitsunetsuki nodded, staring at each other, unable to breathe let alone blink.

"One…" Jack began slowly. The Doctor raised the clenched fist which contained the hoshi no tama. A thousand and one thoughts raced through his mind. What if the Kitsunetsuki reneged on its promise? What did he actually know about their race other than the fragments of folklore that had drifted his way in the course of his overly long life? Would he get Elizabeth back? Why did he feel that compulsive twist in his gut when he thought of her? Was it the Kitsunetsuki that had caused that feeling of dread? It had to be. And where in Gallifrey did Mr Fitzwilliam bloody Darcy fit into all this?

"Two…" Similar thoughts drifted through Jack's mind. The fog and cacophony of voices which had filled him not long ago still left a faded imprint in his mind. But he could feel Elizabeth too, pushing back through the Kitsunetsuki, see her presence in its eyes. Clever girl he thought, come back to me. He glanced momentarily at the Doctor. Come back to both of us.

"Three."

Elizabeth Dashwood collapsed, but, to her intense pride, without fainting. Jack and Darcy rushed over to her, murmuring words of comfort and strength. The Doctor observed from his position slightly apart from them, smiling. In her place was a bright red fox, three tails standing proud. In its mouth was a small white ball. Looking directly at the Doctor, yet without physically moving at all, it grinned at him. He grinned back.


	13. Epilogue

Jack had stripped down to his shirt sleeves; the Doctor had wondered how long it would take, and had been surprised at Jack beating the record (30 whole minutes from stepping back onto the TARDIS).

He, too had removed his jacket, and was leaning against the console, waiting for Elizabeth to return from the wardrobe.

With immaculate timing, she did just that, once again dressed in jeans and a comfy sweater, her hair curled from being up for several hours.

"Hey," she said, smiling softly at the two men.

Jack bounded up to her, kissed her on the cheek and asked how she was feeling.

"Better, thank you." She glanced at the Doctor. "Thank you. Both of you. I had no idea it had got me…"

"We know, Lizzie." Jack reassured her.

"What happened to Darcy?" she laughed quietly.

"Oh, he went back inside… I did ask him to come with us, but he thought it might be best if he re-joined the party."

"Probably a good thing…"

Silence fell between the three of them for a moment, before the Doctor jumped up and grabbed Elizabeth by the hand.

"I've got something to show you!"

Pulled along to the doors, Elizabeth laughed.

"Please don't tell me you've found another Austen heroine to disillusion me?"

"Not quite. Open the doors."

Initially hesitant, Elizabeth paused with her hand on the door handle. She glanced back to Jack, who simply smiled encouragingly, before beginning to tinker with something on the TARDIS console. She turned back to doors, bracing herself for just a moment before pulling them open.

She sat down on the edge of the TARDIS, enthralled. The Doctor joined her, swinging his legs back and forth. The Earth rotated slowly in front of them.

After a few minutes, Elizabeth broke the silence. "It's so beautiful. How do you ever stop looking?"

"I don't. Not really. I just make time to look at all the other beautiful things. There are a lot of them, you know."

"I wish I did!"

"You could. Come with me, see all of it. Or, as much as I can fit in, it is a incomparably large thing, the universe, quite a lot to do, and even with a time machine, and it is, quite frankly, a rather brilliant machine if I do say so myself…."

Cutting off his rambling, Elizabeth lay a hand on his arm. "Really?"

"As long as you don't go attracting more Kitsune, getting rid of the last one was a stroke of luck – well, tempered with my unfailing genius of course."

They both laughed, and turned to face the Earth again.

Jack took a few steps toward them, but stopped, smiling to himself. Elizabeth's hand gripped the edge of the TARDIS floor, the Doctor's resting on top on it, long fingers curled over hers.

"Of course I'll come. I mean, don't get me wrong, this whole thing is terrifying and just plain bizarre. But how could anyone say no to the universe?"

She turned to the Doctor and smiled, and Jack noticed a slight blush on her cheeks. The Doctor turned and smiled back, somewhat goofily.

Jack silently left the console room, heading he knew not where, but knowing his presence had already been forgotten. He smiled, and only a small part of it was sad.

It was, unfortunately, true. Lost in the beauty of her home planet rotating before her, Elizabeth had turned back to the view. The Doctor had done the same, a view he had seen countless times, but seeing it almost anew.

Something else had replaced the twinge he'd felt in his stomach throughout that day, although he was once again loathe to name it what he knew Jack would.

Happiness, he decided to call it instead. For now, happiness would do.


End file.
